


Stalemate

by NeroHero



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, POV Kylo Ren, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-27 22:05:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16228250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeroHero/pseuds/NeroHero
Summary: First Order intelligence has led Supreme Leader Kylo Ren to a remote moon hiding an important Resistance base, where he plans to end the war by confronting Rey. (A oneshot)





	Stalemate

**Author's Note:**

> Uh...Hi! This is my first fic for this fandom, my first oneshot, AND my first time posting on AO3. So go easy on me, please! Haha. I hope you enjoy it.

I felt the aching when the soles of my boots made contact with the sandy surface of that miserable moon. Intelligence within the First Order indicated a strong likelihood that this moon, orbiting an insignificant speck of a planet in a completely unremarkable region, had been serving as a base for the Resistance leadership. I didn’t need to verify the reports. The frayed edges of the severed bond between us stung with renewed vigor, a pain I hadn’t felt since she had closed our connection on Crait.

“She’s here,” I announced to my troops. _She will come._

I advanced alone in the direction from which I felt her strongest. There was no need to sacrifice any other lives, ours were the only ones of any value. Soon this would all be over. Shots rang out from the mountains ahead. I swatted the bolts from the air as if they were flies.

“Rey,” I called out in challenge. Face me, _Jedi_ , if you dare.

She emerged moments later from behind a large boulder. She looked different from when I’d last seen her two years before. I’d known this from the reconnaissance work, but seeing it was something else. She’d matured. Her hair was longer by several inches, and the wind shipped it about her face. That, combined with the steely gaze she landed on me, gave her a fierce look. I’d never seen anything quite so beautiful. She picked her way down the craggy rocks to confront me.

She stopped a few meters away and acknowledged me, “ _Kylo.”_

Hearing that name—my true name now, I reminded myself—fall from her lips was the first blow. It filled me with the venom I needed to continue.

“Snoke was wrong,” I spat. I saw the glimmer of hope shine across her eyes for a moment. Her lips fell open before I continued, “He told me that I needed to kill my father to become a dark lord. He was wrong.” I ignited my blade and aimed it at her, “It was _you_. _”_

“B-Ben,” she began to stutter, but it was much too late for _that_.

I charged then, channeling every ounce of my pain into the attack. It felt like every cell making up my body was on fire. She’d barely been able to reach for her weapon before I was upon her. The twin beams of her saberstaff blocked my blows and cast her skin in a fine golden warmth. She looked to be glowing with light. How fitting for her.

She deflected my second attack as easily as she had the first. With her double-bladed saber, she had the advantage of reach. Adding to that, she knew all of my moves as if they were her own—a side effect of the bond we’d once shared. But still, I had the advantage of strength on my side. If I could outlast her endurance, victory would be mine.

My next several blows wore down on her. She’d never before faced an enemy so powerful, and it showed. I’d been wounded before, both emotionally and physically, when she’d bested me. The evidence of her victory was carved into my cheek. She would not be so lucky today; we were facing off as equals for the first time.

She was beginning to get sloppy with her defenses. It would be her downfall. I struck out at the lower blade of her staff, a surprise move she hadn’t been expecting. It knocked her off balance and sent the weapon careening from her hands. She fell to the gritty soil before she could catch herself.

She skittered backwards, trying in a futile attempt to crawl away. I drew my crackling blade skyward, preparing the strike the killing blow. She looked up at me then in resignation, fear and pleading in her eyes. I tried to swallow the ashy feeling that was rising up my throat. My grip on the hilt of my lightsaber wavered as hesitation overtook me.

_I couldn’t do it_ , I realized  two years too late.  _Had I ever truly wanted to?_ All the hatred and hurt that had fueled me for years had melted away in an instant, as if it were never there at all. Before I could lower my weapon, she’d called hers back to her and launched herself at me  with a primal scream .

S he rained down a series of brutal blows that I barely managed to block. I was stumbling backwards and losing ground rapidly.  I knew now that Kylo Ren would die today. An efficient kick toppled me to the ground,  and the air was knocked from my lungs . She pinned me down with a boot to my chest and one of her sabers aimed at my throat. I closed my eyes as cheering echoed down from the hills where the Resistance was hiding.

“ _Do it!” they screamed, “End this!”_

“ _What are you waiting for, Rey!”_

“ _Kill him!”_

Moments passed, and yet the strike did not come. I opened my eyes to look up at her. She was crying now, poor thing. _It’s_ _alright_ , I tried to tell her without speaking. _I understand now._ If my role in her story were diminished to this, to the monster she’d slay to achieve greatness, then so be it. There are worse ways to die, I supposed. I felt at peace, perhaps for the first time in my entire life.

I bared my throat to her, close enough that I could feel the heat rolling off the plasma. She did not strike. I nodded my consent, but she still held her position firmly. Finally, I pressed my neck to her blade, close enough to singe my flesh. She hissed as if she’d been the one burned, and cast aside her weapon immediately. She wore a horrified expression.

“ _What are you doing?”_ we asked each other in unison, both full of awe and confusion.

She collapsed to her knees beside me with a sob. I sat up to comfort her. I felt it as her guards began to drop, and tendrils of the Force began to stitch the tattered ends of our bond back together. Our souls sang as the conflict between us dissolved away into fragile understanding.

Blasts began to ring out over our heads, as the people who were once our allies began their final battle. None of it mattered to us anymore. Our weapons sat discarded in the dust.

Rey reached her small hand out to me without hesitation, as she’d done once before so long ago. The balance and understanding she offered me—I’d cherish it now, like a precious, tender gift. I’d known it before, too briefly, when we’d taken down the Praetorian guards together.

_We’re not meant to fight_ _one another_ _._


End file.
